Want To Want

At the beginning of the parsha, Rashi says Aharon felt bad that he didn’t offer a korban in the inauguration ceremony of the mishkan.  Therefore, Hashem appeased him by saying he has a greater offering than the heads of the tribe because he lights the menorah.  Why did Hashem have to wait until Aharon felt bad to give him the command to light the menorah, why didn’t just He tell him immediately?  Similarly, why did Hashem wait until the people that were tameh complained why should they lose out on the korban pesach before giving the mitzvah of pesach sheni? The possuk (11:4) says הִתְאַוּ֖וּ תַּאֲוָ֑ה.  What is the meaning of this repetition? According to the Ramban, one of the bad things that ויהי בנסוע comes to split up was that the people left Mount Sinai in a hurry like a child running from school.  Why is this considered wrong, they only traveled when the clouds moved acknowledging Hashem’s desire for them to leave, as the Torah itself describes in this very parsha?

We see from here that there must be a desire to serve Hashem.  Precisely because the impure people and Aharon felt that they were lacking something were they worthy of getting a special mitzvah.  If a person truly desires to fulfill the mitzvot and doesn’t view them as a yoke that one must bear, then Hashem helps him fulfill the mitzvot. 

The repetition of the verse explains the Chofetz Chaim, is tell us the reason that the people had a desire for meat was because they desired to have a desiring.  They were thinking about physical pleasures instead focusing their heads to only desire what Hashem wants. That is what was wrong when the people left Mount Sinai, it wasn’t about the timing, it was about their lack of longing to remain to here Torah from Hashem.  They didn’t show a desire that they want to be able to hear more Torah.  That is what was lacking.